The poster has a Yoshino Cherry in a 24 inch pot. No place to plant it, wants to have it as potted plant. Needs advice. The tree you mention is more likely several years old. At 7 feet, probably more than 3. Take the tree out of your house immediately. If it is leafed out, move it in only when frost threatens. (In NC, I hope you are done w/frost.) In the fall, allow it to freeze so that the leaves fall off, otherwise it will not bloom. You cannot keep the tree indoors for extended periods, summer or winter. In the summer, the indoor light is not strong enough, and when it goes out all the leaves will fry. In the winter, it will not go dormant and likely die after one such treatment. BTW, a potted tree outdoors does better in shade than in full sun. Two feet is a decent sized pot, but this tree will out grow that in a year or 2. You can do root and branch pruning to keep it a 7 ft. "bonsai", but that will require wrestling the tree out of its pot, knowing how much to cut, and repotting. All the while, judicious watering will be required. Did you sign up for that? These trees are sold with the idea that they will be planted out. Ideally, you could plant it alongside your patio area, maybe 20 ft or more away from any building. Lacking that, you have bought a pet tree that will need more care than an Angora cat. Maybe somebody will chime in with an easier process. Do you have a friend, relative or somebody who has room for the tree who would allow you to visit when it blooms and to lounge in its shade?

A Bing cherry tree growing in southern California will do reasonably well the first several years, just enough to get your hopes up. After that, it will start dwindling away, more & more each year. And will eventually look so sad you'll remove it. If you want a tree that will grow and produce cherries, ask at your nearest independent garden center which cherry will do well where you live. Several will. But only if you obtain the correct kind. Ask when it/they will be available. (In SoCal, bareroot tree fruits are generally available during Jan. & Feb; sometimes in Dec.) As for the flowering cherries and other trees that require substantial amounts of chill -- total hours between 32 and 45 during Dec, Jan & Feb, but subtracting all hours above 65F -- will grow but will bloom erratically & will leaf out erratically. So save yourself a lot of grief and grow "low-chill" fruit tree(s) suited to your region. The large garden centers know which ones they are. But you need to ask. One big problem: Just because a garden center in your region sells a specific fruit tree doesn't mean it will thrive there. Jean, who gardened in Long Beach, CA, for 30-some years.

I did end up buying and planting one on April 20. I had looked at Behnke but their trees were too small for my needs, no taller than 5 feet, and couldn't get anywhere near an employee to ask about bigger ones---Behnke's great but they get kinda crazy on spring weekends. American Plant Food Co (2 locations in Bethesda) had JUST sold out of all their Yoshinos in the 10-12 foot range when I was there. They did have one that was, gosh, maybe 18 feet tall, if I wanted to spend $300---I was tempted but I knew it was overkill. Fehr Nursery in Burtonsville was where I struck gold. They had bunches of trees, both maybe 10-12 feet and 12-15 feet. I got one of the latter, for way less money than that big one at American, I want to say like $159. Plus, Fehr's trees were in the ground, which was kinda cool, although when my tree was delivered and I went to plant, I found old burlap (way underneath the shiny new burlap that was used to get the tree to me)---so who knows how LONG they'd been in the ground at Fehr. But still! So far so good, I'm most happy with my tree. It's doing very well, though I have a couple of maintenance questions I've been meaning to post here---that'll be a separate topic when I get around to it! faerieannette, wow. That's amazing, I had no idea that was even done. Thanks to all for your thoughts!

pic would really help .... dry shouldnt be an issue on 7 year in the ground plants ... i would wonder about frost or freeze.. since they leafed out ... where in z6? .. great variances ... how bad was your winter ... i had a z4 in my z5 ... my cherry did not take it well ... but it hasnt leafed out yet ... good.. since frost is possible tonight .. one might think.. it has to be cold event.. if all 3 are showing the problem .. for a disease to attack all 3 ...... in early spring.. seems off to me ken